Cloudship

I am sure this has been discussed before, but since I couldn't figure out how to search for it without using three letter words, I thought I would ask again.

I am planning a trip late this month to London. I am a pretty big guy, and while I usually fly coach in the US, the thought of having to spend 8 hours squished in a narrow seat overnight really is giving me major anxiety. I have been looking at business class airfare, but they seem exorbitantly high. I don't need fancy meals or 60 inches of legroom - all I need is a seat a couple of inches wider and it would be nice, but not an absolute necessity, to have an inch or two more legroom.

I have looked at Virgin's premium class, which seems to be the only one with significantly wider seats, and I have looked at business class. It seems to me that it would still be cheaper to buy two adjoining economy seats and get that much more seat room than to get a business class set. I know there are a couple of low fares business class companies out of Newark, but that isn't an easy connection for me to make out of Boston.

Anyway, to the question - if I were to buy two economy tickets, would this work? Would they simply be likely to bump the second seat out on me and then I loose my room? Will I get strange looks from the other passengers?

Bobster

You must tell the airline you are buying two seats. It's safest to make the reservation by phone, tell them what you want, they will give you a ticket with a name like Extra Seat (or similar) and you'll get a boarding pass for Extra Seat. Do not make the reservation by web site uness you are absolutely certain that will work. Not strange, I've done. It's cheaper than a normal ticket because the empty carries no luggage, weighs nothing, and doesn't eat any food.

pbyaeger

I am a large size customer, and I've bought two seats many times. I prefer business class, but that's my long legs talking.

If coach is the only option, I always buy two seats, and it works out fine. I book the second seat this way: LastName, Extra Seat. When I choose seats and check in, I confirm that my seats are together, and non-bulkhead, where the armrests don't lift. And, finally, I tell the flight attendant during boarding that I've purchased two seats; otherwise their count is off and they go mad trying to find the hidden human.

Virgin's Premium Economy was not worth the money, I thought. The seats had fixed armrests, so the extra seat did me absolutely no good. The legroom was marginally better than coach, which means it still stunk.

Most airlines are entirely pleasant about this; only once during an overbooked situation did they insist on giving my extra seat away, unfortunately to a nasty little woman who complained the entire time, even when I informed her that I'd paid for the seat she was sitting in so as not to inconvenience people like her. Sigh.

And, on another long trip, I not only bought the seat next to me, I bought the seat in front of me--tickets were incredibly cheap, and this, I thought, would ensure that I would have plenty of room to sit comfortably. (I fit in one seat, but I'm right to the edge and would rather not endure snippy remarks--it's the right thing to do.) You guessed it--despite my ticket for the seat, at least five middle seat people tried to switch to the seat in front of me, and became indignant when I explained I'd purchased it. One guy even reclined in my face and told me I could have his middle seat...jackass. I ended up asking the FA for assistance, and strapped a stuffed piglet toy into the seat so no one else would sit there.

Anyway, you should have no trouble whatsoever.

KyRoamer

For three letter searches use google from

http://www.flyertalk.com/google_search.php

Ocn Vw 1K

Also, a related thread in our Air Canada Aeroplan forum, here discusses purchasing an extra seat. As well, musicians who travel with large, valuable instruments they won't allow to be checked buy extra seats and a search of "cello" will turn up added threads about buying extra seats for musical instruments; but airlines sometimes have different policies for cellos or basses than people.

the_happiness_store

I don't need the extra seat but I would like to know if there is possibly to lift the arm rest sufficiently so it slides completely in between the seats - in case the seat beside me is a vacant the armrest will not be prodding into my back.

pshuang

Cloudship, I don't know if this is for a business trip for you or not. I've pondered the question of whether I'd ever be able to convince work that it was reasonable and cost-effective for them to buy me two economy class tickets in order to secure significantly more comfort flying to Europe from the West Coast; they're certainly not going to pay the much higher premium for business class.

On an upcoming vacation trip, however, I'm paying for an economy revenue ticket in my name (I may need the elite qualifying miles to re-qualify as elite), but redeemed a mileage award for the seat next to me (using the EXTRASEAT first name, working through a United ticket counter agent). This mixed strategy might be worth your consideration. For United, my preferred airline, for example, the 50K miles award was much cheaper than buying what would have been a more expensive upgradeable economy revenue ticket and then spending the 30K miles each way to try upgrade into business class, and said upgrades probably wouldn't have cleared until a few days before and thus left me a lot of time to feel anxious about whether I was going to start and end my vacation with 10+ hours of discomfort....

pbyaeger, I'd love to know which airline you were flying in the singular situation you described. Did they simply successfully pressure you into letting them give away the extra seat which you had paid for, or did they simply give it away against your will (and without IDB compensation)?

davem4

Be carefull when booking seats with airlines you don't usualy travel.

Found out a few days ago that Finnairs MD-11's armrests dont go all the way up (managed to have 3 seats so i could stretch out to the side).


Just got off CX101 using the new Cathay Pacific interiors, The new sliding seats have a shell and an armrest that sticks out (goes all the way up but no way you could sit). Also there is this new thing that i have never seen before, there is an airbag on your seatbelt, which takes up heaps of room and also is very uncomfortable to sit/lie down on (i again lucked out and had a row of 4 for the red-eye).

pbyaeger

It was Delta. The flight was packed; the only open seat was the one between me and my husband, that we'd purchased. They knew we'd purchased it, and it was definitely a tight squeeze as we're both large people.

The gate agent boarded at least three times and begged for volunteers, but it was a holiday weekend and no one was budging. She explained that there was a woman who HAD to travel waiting. Finally, she came over, told us she was taking our seat. We argued that the other person would not be comfortable, that we had paid $299 to avoid just such a situation. She snapped "I could take YOU off the flight, you know."

At that point, we shut up; no sense in getting arrested for her bad attitude. We did get a refund in the mail. But the flight to Florida was long and miserable, for us and the woman who had to fly.

I wrote scathing letters to Delta; they replied with form letters and stupidity. But over the years, they've become a bit more sensitive and appreciative about our willingness to buy the space we need.

SwissCircle

Air France is very accomodating to larger passengers. See here:

http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/...cekedgfndggh.0

GenevaFlyer

There is an interesting bit here:

What is the point of buying a second seat in Business or in First (long distance that is)? There's no way you can lift the armrest so you will not get any relief from that second seat.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

SwissCircle

In french and german they are a bit more clear that that would not happen, the 2nd seat in Biz/1st.

Cloudship

That's not accommodating! That's saying that if you are a large person (granted, in their case very large), you HAVE to buy two seats, or they will not let you fly!

SwissCircle

in my opinion they do not imply that. again, on their european pages they also make it very clar that you will only pay a fee, and not have to buy another seat at full ticket charge.
Personally I just wanted to hand out the information. As I do not have to be concerned about fitting in todays tiny eco seats, I just thought it might be usefull information for others how suffer from mentioned eco seats.

pshuang

Wow. Boy, that sounds clearly like an IDB to me; you should have been due IDB compensation, which would be much more than just a refund of your original purchase price. But that situation is long past; no point crying over spilt milk that has long since dried into a little puddle-shaped crust. Thanks for sharing the details, though.